


But He Never Did

by thatluckyrabbit



Category: Disney Cartoons (Classic), Epic Mickey
Genre: Angst, Father-Son Relationship, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Short
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-24
Updated: 2015-10-24
Packaged: 2018-04-27 21:01:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5063989
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatluckyrabbit/pseuds/thatluckyrabbit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"He's gone."</p><p>In many ways, Walt left them both... just in different ways.</p>
            </blockquote>





	But He Never Did

**Author's Note:**

> I came to the realization that in many ways, Walt ended up leaving Oswald and Mickey behind, just in very different ways, so this happened. 
> 
> also came from inspiration after watching Saving Mr. Banks. Which made me cry plenty of times. I recommend it if you're a huge Disney nerd like me, because it's really really good.

 

"He's gone."  
  
When those words were said to him, he didn't understand them. Not at first, anyway. Oswald was left waiting, for days, at the Universal Studios for his father to pick him up and take him home with him like he always did after a busy day of shooting some cartoons.   
  
But Walt never came for him.  
  
Oswald had wandered the halls of the studio in those short few days, left waiting and waiting for his father to come and pick him up. Waiting to hear anything from dear old dad about why he wasn't there...  
  
And the words said to him—said so coldly to him by Charles Mintz himself—just a few days later... they took a while to sink in. He was told then about the rights, how apparently he was always owned by Universal... that just because Walt made him, gave him life with Ub Iwerks... it didn't mean Walt officially owned him.

And so Oswald was forced to stay in that studio for years, waiting and waiting for his father to come back. Even when his father created his own studio, now bigger than Universal ever was, Oswald still waited for his father to come back. Even with Mickey Mouse in the picture, now number one instead of him... he'd curl up every night and hope that maybe his father would come back to get him back. To come back for _him._  
  
But he never did.  
  


* * *

  
  
"He's gone."  
  
The words didn't sink in. Not right away, anyway. Not even when the mouse ran into the hospital room and saw his father lying there, still and unmoving. The disbelief was too strong for him, but even so much doubt and disbelief couldn't block out the sight of his dead father.

Everyone in the world knew that of all the relationships between creator and toon, Walt and Mickey's was by far the strongest. They were father and son, and the most iconic father and son at that.   
  
And now he was gone. And Mickey was left alone, without his creator, his mentor, his inspiration, his _father,_ there for him.

He clutched at Walt's hand, begged him to wake up with teary eyes, hoping and praying for this to be a nightmare. Wishing upon a star, as was one of the company's biggest logos were... He wished it could be as easy as wishing upon a star for his father to wake up, for his father to not be sick, that his father never collapsed and ended up here weeks ago to begin with...  
  
But wishes only worked on toons. Humans were a different story. Wishes couldn't spare death. And wishes couldn't bring his father back from the dead. But he continued to hold Walt's cold, lifeless hand and cry and beg for him to wake up, to not be _dead._ He cried and begged him to stay with him. Mickey begged him not to leave. To come back.

But he never did.  
  



End file.
